Seeing the multitude of tight, rosy circles mottling his flesh was far more disturbing than Ilya and Darryl combined.
“You’re not eating,kroshka,” Ilya said, the grating rasp of his voice from the thick scar on his neck making Quinn grit her teeth. “It is not good for an expecting mother not to eat.”
“Maybe a little clotted cream on your fancy toast?” Darryl smirked at his joke, flicking the edge of the organic whole-grain bread Lee made her eat, sending it spinning to the other side of her plate.
Swallowing back the acrid burn in the back of her throat, Quinn tore her eyes from Maurice’s scarred neck and focused on her plate. There was no way she could eat now. If she just got up and left, they’d think they had won, and it would make life in this place even more difficult than it already was.
These males were unapologetic in their ferocity and remorseless in their violence, but they bowed down to Lee. They wouldn’t touch what was his, wouldn’t hurt her, but Quinn of all people knew you didn’t have to be punched and kicked to break.
She was living proof and still trying to put all the shattered pieces of herself back together.
As if reading her thoughts out loud, the spinning of her tale cued a descending flock of twittering birds in designer dresses and plastic smiles. A swirling, graceful tumult of bright colors and tinkling laughter, the Beta females Lee had given her leave to associate with simpered and cooed as Ilya and Darryl made themselves charming. They pulled chairs out, the women seated around Quinn as they focused their beady blank stares upon her.
“You’re not dressed, sweetheart! How are we supposed to go shopping if you’re in… that?” Lauren’s delicate nose scrunched in a way that Quinn was almost certain she practiced in a mirror. The peals of laughter that met the statement were elegant, refined.
Quinn hated that, too.
But Betas were all she could stand to be around for any length of time without Lee by her side. They were also the only ones he’d allow her to be seen with. A handpicked coterie of the choicest females Highriver had to offer, all with little to do and money to waste. They were her public escorts and saw her around the city without fail, making sure she was seen in the right places and didn’t do anything scandalous.
While she hadn’t been allowed to converse with anyone at Lee’s more unsavory meetings, Quinn was sure they’d be a damn sight easier to deal with than this lot. At least that was a danger she knew. These pretty females with their perfect hair and makeup were sly in ways Quinn hadn’t been taught. They hid razor-sharp teeth behind simpering smiles and a bat of their lashes could find a man dead.
They were also not breeding, which seemed to be a deciding factor for Lee. Some couldn’t after a life clawing their way to the top, others weren’t chosen for their wombs and had been cast aside for that duty. Highriver was hardly another planet, but it might as well be for the way these people worked. Then again, it wasn’t like Quinn had ever mingled above the poorest of circles back in Alderbrook. Maybe this was just the way it was done. Perhaps Kahler had been the freak of his class.
Quinn blamed the sudden somersault the baby performed for the rush of tears that burned the back of her eyes. Blinking them away, she turned her attention to the women around her.
“I’m not sure I feel up for shopping today.” Quinn made a tight smile of discomfort, hand coming to rest on her stomach. Quinn hated herself a little for the petty surge of victory at Lauren’s stiff smile.
“Oh, but Lee will miss you at lunch.” Cassandra leaned her chin on her palm. Sheer delight danced in her baby blues as she hummed a feigned pout. “I suppose we could tell him you weren’t feeling up to it though.”
Picking up the forgotten toast and nibbling on the corner, Quinn bought a few moments to think. The dull, wringing ache in her chest was getting worse, something that was becoming all too frequent and familiar. Lee calmed that particular beast, quieted it at least for a time. It wasn’t unusual for him to schedule things with these women and not her, and it would get her away from the three Alphas still watching her.
Setting the toast aside, Quinn dabbed at the corner of her lips with the linen napkin and offered a sunny grin. “You know, on second thought, maybe a day of shopping is just what I need. I think I’m getting a case of the baby blues.”
Without waiting to see their reaction to the pointed barb, Quinn headed up to her room.
After several hours spent meandering through baby boutiques and riffling through exquisite dresses, Quinn was grateful when Lee plucked her from the twittering gaggle. With suave apologies and firm dismissal, he took Quinn to his office. There would be no lunch, only the rough fuck against his desk that she craved.
“What’s this?” Lee traced the margin of the raw red patch staining the skin over her sternum as Quinn peeled out of her satiny blouse and lacy bra. No one would dare come into the office, and he preferred her naked. She needed to feel the heat of him, the slide of sweat slick flesh.
“Heartburn,” Quinn murmured, distracted as she leaned in for a deeper breath of his scent. Heady and intoxicating, it teased her senses then punched low, a heated ripple of pleasure low in her belly. Virile male, dominant Alpha. Slick gathered between her lips, smearing her thighs as she caught the first whiff of his arousal.
He didn’t believe her, judging by the grunt he gave. He also wasn’t overcome with concern as Quinn wriggled her way out of the navy slacks she’d worn. Fingers quick, she got him out of his shirt and pants, setting them on the valet stand behind his desk with care. Palms skimming her curves, he twirled her around to sprawl over his desk.
Braced over a slew of papers strewn with complex columns of color-coded numbers, Quinn stifled a low moan as Lee took up position behind her.
Smearing the head of his cock through her wet folds, he rumbled an appreciative growl. His fingers dug into her ass, spreading her wide as he eased his way in with deliberate thrusts. Teasing her, forcing her body to spread around the almost too much girth, he made her work for every inch.
By the time he was seated, Quinn was panting, covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Legs trembling, she whined as he began the slow drag out. Warm hands, unsullied by rough work, dug into her back as he drove forward at a steady pace intent on driving her into a frenzy. Soft touches accompanied the leisurely sway of his hips. Caressing fingers gliding over her back, shoulders, touching her belly with a gentleness that had sodden misery welling in her eyes.
It wasn’tright. It would never be right. Bereft of everything but the feel and scent of a strong Alpha, she began to crumble.
Even as her cunt slicked his shaft until the wet squelch of his thrusts filled the room. Twitched and pulsed around his length. As she gave voice to stifled moans and low whimpers.
Quiet rumbles of pleasure sounded behind her. His hands careful as they cupped her breasts, fingers teasing the aching points. The slap of his hips meeting the rounded curve of her ass reverberated through the close air.
The first gasp twisted from her tortured lungs. Muscles fluttering around his length, squeezing his thickness. Lee growled deep in his chest and snapped his hips forward. Agony spilled from her eyes, spattering the papers beneath her just as the copious slick did her thighs. Little grunts shoved past her parted lips as he struck deep. Battering the very end of her with his thick crown.
Singeing threads of bliss wound down her thighs, the muscles of her calves in stark relief as she arched higher. Offering that much more. Pleading. Moan strangled in a sob, the first pulse of the impending fall shuddered through her frame.
